A Northern Christmas

Amidst a dizzying whirl of Christmas activity (which I wish was filled with glittering parties, but in actuality consists of more trips to Kohl’s than any human in their right mind should make), this little gem of a book offers a moment of peace and quiet contemplation.

Rockwell Kent and his eight year old son spent the winter of nineteen-eighteen and nineteen in a one room log cabin on Fox Island, off the south coast of Alaska. Excerpted from WILDERNESS: A Journal of Quiet Adventure in Alaska, this ‘gift book’, titled A Northern Christmas, is number one in a series published in 1941 by the American Artists Group. It includes Kent’s journal entries written over the Christmas holiday, with woodcut illustrations of the Alaskan wilderness.

“Thursday, December nineteenth
This day is never to be forgotten, so beautiful, so calm, so still with the earth and every branch and tree muffled in deep, feathery new-fallen snow. And all day the softest clouds have drifted lazily over the heaven … It was a day to Live, —and work could be forgotten. So Rockwell and I explored the woods, at first reverently treading on path, so that the snow about us might still lie undisturbed. But soon the cub in the boy broke out and he rolled in the deepest thickets, shook the trees down upon himself, lay still in the snow for me to cover him completely, washed his face till it was crimson, and wound up with a naked snow bath.”

Rockwell Kent, with the young Rockwell and their only companion on the otherwise isolated island, a Swedish gold-miner and trapper named Olson, manage to create a magnificent feast and magical atmosphere with the very simplest of supplies and materials.

“Everything goes beautifully; the wood burns as it should, the oven heats, the kettle boils, the beans stew, and the bread browns in the oven just right, and the new pudding sauce foams up as rich and delicious as though instead of the first it were the hundredth time I’d made it. “                                 ACB

The RISD Library will be closed between December 24 – January 3rd. Happy Holidays!

New to the collection: The Works of William Hogarth

The Works of William Hogarth Esq. RA, with the additions of many subjects not before collected, to which is prefixed, a biographical essay on the Genius and production of Hogarth, and explanations of the subjects of the plates, by John Nichols Esq. FSA.  London: Baldwin, Cradock, and Joy, 1822           Large Folio NE 642 .H6 N5 1822

William Hogarth, 1697-1764

A recent donation to Special Collections is an early 19^th century publication of the engraved works of William Hogarth.  This large folio has over 150 engravings, printed between 1828 – 1837, over 50 years after Hogarth’s death, from the original refurbished plates, and includes descriptive texts and explanations.  It features a large self portrait, many caricatures and political, satirical works, as well as his moral stories, narrated in a series of pictures.

Hogarth, a British painter and engraver, worked at a time when British culture was establishing itself as separate from Continental courts or religious influences.  It was a time of prosperity and growth with liberal political leanings and rather unburdened moral sensibilities.  The influence of politics, social issues, and contemporary drama and novels, can be seen throughout these works.

Hogarth first considered himself a painter and many of his early works were commissioned by wealthy families.  At the same time, he was also interested in genre painting, focusing on “modern moral subjects” and scenes of the lower class.  Although he believed that painting was “high art” and engraving a more mechanical form of labor, he achieved fame primarily for his engraved works.  Among those well known works are “A Harlot’s Progress” (1732), “A Rake’s Progress” (1735), “Marriage à la Mode” (1745), “Beer Street” and “Gin Lane” (1751).  Included in this book are three “suppressed prints” entitled “Before”, “After”, and “Feeding Poultry”, possibly suppressed because of their racy content.

Hogarth was involved in current political issues and along with 4 other artists, petitioned Parliament to protect the rights of engravers, whose work was being pirated and sold by merchants.  The resulting Engraver’s Copyright Act of 1735 gave artists the sole rights to their prints for 14 years from their initial date of publication.  Hogarth also founded a drawing academy in St. Martin’s Lane and in 1753 wrote Analysis of Beauty, a much criticized manifesto on art theory.  The library owns a 1772 copy of this work as well, which was printed posthumously and sold by Hogarth’s widow.

The prints in The Works of William Hogarth are quite beautiful and when you look at them with magnification, you can see that parts of the print were etched and parts were engraved, a practice common in that time period.  The paper is made from rags and is still strong and flexible.  The binding has been re-backed, although it looks like the original boards, which have been covered with quarter bound leather and marbled paper, are still intact.  The book is very large and heavy so it is both a delight and a challenge to view.

bathos

The prints are complex and intricate, with many subtle visual clues to the narrative.  Hogarth’s satirical and robust depictions of every day life in the early 18th century seem to echo simliar political and social issues we face even now.  Might we not benefit these days from the vision  and social commentary of a contemporary Hogarth?        LWC